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Union slams ‘absurd choice’ between balanced budget, public services
Friday, December 2nd, 2011
Dec. 2, 2011
“The government is making people choose between the deficit and public services and that’s an absurd choice… It’s kind of like asking, ‘Would you like to pay down your mortgage.’ Everybody’s going to say yes. Well then, ‘What about feeding your kids?’” The public-sector unions are preparing for the loss of tens of thousands of jobs as Treasury Board President Tony Clement presses ahead with a government-wide austerity program to rein in a multi-billion-dollar deficit. “… services in communities all across this country are going to be disrupted.”
Tags: budget, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Attawapiskat exposes urgent need for native education reforms
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
Nov. 30, 2011
Native education in Canada is simply a string of disasters. There’s no need here to recite again the ills of the residential schools system; its replacement – on-reserve schools funded by Ottawa and run by local band councils – haven’t done much better… But… [In NS and BC] native school boards are pooling resources, supervising on-reserve schools and overseeing a curriculum that meets provincial standards while also emphasizing native languages, culture and history.
Tags: crime prevention, disabilities, Indigenous, poverty, rights, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | 1 Comment »
Remember the Reformers? They’re still here
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
Nov. 30, 2011
Almost a quarter of a century after its birth, Reform still animates Canadian politics… Reform’s ideas remain alive and kicking inside the Conservative Party – see the Harper government’s use of a majority to push through legislation eliminating the Canadian Wheat Board, toughening the criminal justice system and abolishing the long-gun registry.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »
CAMH gets $30-million donation for new research institute
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
Nov. 28, 2011
Cutting-edge work investigating new ways to treat mental illness and provide better care for patients will soon be one step closer to reality because of a massive $30-million donation to create a new research institute at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. The donation, made by the daughters of the late Audrey Campbell and their families, is the largest private donation ever made to a mental health and addiction research hospital in Canada.
Tags: mental Health, philanthropy
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Under this PM, the state is everywhere
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
Nov. 29, 2011
Conservatism, as defined by Ronald Reagan, was about getting government off the backs of the people. Conservatism, as practised by team Harper, is more akin to an Orwellian opposite. State controls are now at a highpoint in our modern history…. The propaganda machine has become mammoth and unrelenting. The parliamentary newspaper The Hill Times recently found there are now no fewer than 1,500 communications staffers on the governing payroll… State surveillance, the rationale being security, is being taken to new levels.
Tags: ideology, participation
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Abysmal youth vote prompts call for a remedial strategy
Friday, November 25th, 2011
Nov. 25, 2011
there were two very different subgroups of Canadian young people in the lead-up to the last election. Among the university and college set, there was an uptick in interest and enthusiasm for the campaign, Mr. Biggar said. But unemployed, and recently employed, young people were not engaged and many don’t believe their vote matters… Whether it was young people in the aboriginal or ethnic communities, the disabled, the rural youth or the unemployed, all told the Elections Canada survey that they just weren’t interested in voting.
Tags: disabilities, Indigenous, participation, poverty, youth
Posted in Inclusion Debates | 1 Comment »
Who wants to talk about income inequality?
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
Nov. 23, 2011
In Canada, the share concerned about poverty/income inequality was 30 per cent, behind health care (of course) at 47 per cent, unemployment/jobs at 39 per cent and taxes at 37 per cent. That ranking showed an increase in concern about poverty/income inequality, since it now ranks well above crime, immigration, environment and climate change… Well-intentioned philanthropy… cannot do much against these market trends and inadequate government programs to offset those market trends.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | 4 Comments »
On productivity, the ‘invisible hand’ lacks visible success
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
Nov. 22, 2011
… large government by itself is no more a guarantee of productivity success than small government: Interventions must be smart, efficient and disciplined. But experience shows clearly that market forces on their own cannot be relied on to guide the economy to its innovative, efficient potential… we cannot continue to wait for the forces of unregulated private competition to develop Canada’s economy in a sustainable, diversified manner.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Days of blindly topping up medicare are over
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
Nov. 23, 2011
…the CHT gives Ottawa the moral authority (if not the legal right) to impose conditions on provincial health spending, and to create a semblance of a national system… hospitals, physicians, nurses, patients or others, have been saying for years that they want Ottawa to place strict conditions on the CHT as a way of ensuring specific programs are undertaken.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Providing shelter for the unemployed
Friday, November 18th, 2011
Nov. 18, 2011
Many groups of workers are poorly served by the current system, including the self-employed, part-timers, those who hold multiple jobs, contract workers, immigrants and younger workers. Those who fall outside of the EI umbrella are just as poorly served by the system in Halifax and St. John’s as they are in Kingston and Saskatoon… a new national framework is required, one more transparent, client-centred and equitable.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Policy Context | 2 Comments »
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